Here’s to the future AT the recent London Coin Fair (LCF) in Hammersmith on February 7, I was struck by how many young people were in the room, and by young people I don’t mean collectors in their 20s, I mean children aged from 4–11. They were, of course, there with their parents, grandparents or other guardian (at least I hope they all were!) but that didn’t mean they were attending under duress, and many seemed to be genuinely excited by what was going on around them. There were undoubtedly those there solely because their grown-ups were collectors, but that wasn’t the case with everyone and there were three youngsters in particular who we were especially struck by. The first was a little girl who can’t have been much more than five who bought a copy of Coins of England from us (with a little help from her dad) because she couldn’t find any coins she liked and so wanted to be able to look at pictures of them instead, (we gave her a COIN YEARBOOK and a copy of COIN NEWS so she could look at even more!) Another was a girl of a similar age (with a rucksack bigger than she was) who spent a lot of time at our next door neighbour’s stand, the stallholders themselves (Nantwich Collectables) took a lot of time and trouble to make sure she was well looked after and felt special, and were rewarded at the end of the day not only with a sale but by a hug from their adorable little customer and a hearty thank you from her father. Thirdly, there was “Coinboy” the young YouTuber, just 11 years old, who we have known for some time but haven’t seen since the show moved from Bloomsbury to its new home. He was there with his mum and her partner, and it was lovely to see his enthusiasm for coins hasn’t dimmed at all, and it was equally gratifying to see that he too was being looked after by stallholders. I have commented before that coin collecting often seems to be a hobby for the older generation, that coin fairs seem to be populated by those of us nearer 60 than 40, and that makes sense to a degree; traditional collecting hobbies aren’t enjoyed by youngsters today in quite the same way as they were 50–60 years ago and besides, as we all know, numismatics isn’t cheap so having a little disposable income can be handy. I have also commented that if we aren’t careful, we will end up in a dying hobby, with people fading away from one end with no new collectors coming in at the other, but what I saw at the LCF gave me cause to think that perhaps that isn’t happening after all. Of course, what all of those young people had in common, apart from their very evident enthusiasm, was that they had an adult with them who either shared or indulged their passion. They had someone to take them to the show, look after them, advise them and guide them (and pay for things too, of course) in short, they had someone to encourage them in their hobby, an understanding grown-up who, instead of steering them towards something that was easier, cheaper and didn’t involve a trip to Hammersmith, was prepared to go along with their charge’s wishes. They also, thankfully, had some very understanding dealers prepared to indulge them and help guide them; no stallholder sought to discourage any youngster from browsing even though their spending power may well have been more limited than another customer’s, and instead, everyone seemed delighted to help these young collectors where they could. It was heartening to see. The point of mentioning this is to show that, with the right combination of an understanding parent or grandparent and a dealer prepared to spend some time chatting rather than just selling, children and young people will become interested in coins, they will start collecting and we will have a thriving hobby in the future. So, I implore you all, whether collector or dealer, take that trouble, spend that time and do your absolute best to encourage these young people. I know it’s a cliché but they really are the future and the more we can help them now the better we will all be for it. So, bravo to all of you who were there with your children/grandchildren in Hammersmith in February, and bravo to all of you dealers and auction houses who made the effort to stop and encourage those fledgling collectors, hopefully they’ll reward your patience and kindness with a lifetime of loyalty.